Just a short note

Two finals done, five more to go. Will be completely done Thurs, Dec 14 @ 10pm.

Steph is somewhere in Europe, I'm assuming Norway by now. Hopefully I'll hear from her soon so I'll stop worrying.

Parents are coming up in about an hour to take me to lunch and take my books and DVDs home for break.

I slept like dirt last night.

Is it Dec. 15 yet?

ERAGON COMES TO THEATERS DECEMBER 15TH!!!!!

We're fighting over who is going to have our Christmas party. Things are definately more fractured in our relationships than I realized. Yet... I think I realized and just didn't accept it.

ERAGON COMES TO THEATERS NEXT FRIDAY!!!!!

It snowed.

It's cold.

That's all.

Scheiße.

Final exam in NSC 211 tomorrow. Leadership and management. Man that class sucks. Love to prof, love my classmates - hate the subject. Studying after my night class with some of the Marines to get better prepared - at least Wahl will be there. Probably Miller. Probably a few others. They can think of examples to help me understand the course material. And they're funny to listen to. Miller gets super excited when he gets to explain stuff to people. And I get to hear navy stories then as well. Hopefully we'll have a good study session and I'll be ready for tomorrow's exam.

The Captain is speaking in my AF class tomorrow. Sooo I know I won't be getting out of THAT class early. He's cool, but he doesn't know when to shut up and let us out of class.

Final exam in NSC 311 Friday. Had a review session today. Not as apprehensive about it as I am for NSC 211, but still, I'm bordering on A/B. And I want the A, dammit. At least the course is interesting.

Still incredibly incredibly frustrated with people. And sick of dealing with stupid people who need a brain in their heads. Because stupid people annoy the hell out of me. And I don't have the time to deal with it right now. Verfluchte dumme weg tickende Leute ich. Zur Hölle und lasse mich im Frieden, gehe, ich bin müde von ihm! Ich habe nicht die Zeit, Ihren Stupidity zu beschäftigen. Gah!

-sigh-

Really. Really. REALLY. frustrated with a few unnamed people. Very frustrated.




Exams Thurs, Fri, Mon-Thurs.


I hate exams.



And so frickin frustrated with people being stupid. And people in general. And unnamed people.



Bug off.

The long, rather unanticipated update.

So I'm posting both my pirate proposal (first) and then if you're REALLY bored, after that I'm posting my article I wrote for history about stuff. Which is boring but if you're bored, might actually be interesting.

Been kind of a depressing end of week / weekend. Once again thank God for Steph. Who is still moving. Damn.

Anyways, read at your own risk.

PS. Leigh - Trish couldn't read your comments. That's why she didn't respond. :)

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2007 USS Proposal

Pirates, Film, and the American Need for Escapism During Times of
Political or Military Unrest and Discontent


1. The purpose of this project is to examine the cultural role of pirate films in modern American history. More specifically, I want to see if there is a correlation between the popular desire for escapism and times of political or military unrest and discontent. In times of war, depression, and turmoil, pirate films are more successful than if they are released in times of peace and stability. Many people flock to films that allow for escapism or a show of rebellion when they are unhappy with their lives and their government. Examples of movies to be examined include: Treasure Island (1920), Captain Kidd (1922), Black Pirate (1926), Captain Blood (1935),The Buccaneer (1938), Sea Hawk (1940), Black Swan (1942), Captain Kidd (1945), Against All Flags (1952), Blackbeard the Pirate (1952), Master of Ballantrae (1953), The Buccaneer (1958), Hook (1991), Cutthroat Island (1995), and Pirates of the Caribbean (2003 and 2006).

I am particularly interested in seeing which character traits and political positions are stressed in American popular culture at different times. Is a film mostly a lighthearted escapist adventure? Or is it darker, with rough pirates who routinely break the law and generally challenge established authority? Does a film about pirates champion escape the confines of social norms or an outright rebellion against the restraints political authorities are putting on the characters? I wish to see how pirate movies, both in their creation and reception, reflect the moods and sentiments of the American public at the time of their release.

2. Expected project outcomes include a 20-25 page research essay as well as a hall display in Upham Hall. The essay will explain how the fascination with pirates increases in certain periods of American history and why it declines in others. The hall display in Upham will pique interest in pirates by displaying different movies and their portrayal of pirates, and linking them to events that were going on in the time of their creation. It is my hope that this display will get people to think about how movies and current events intersect, to see movies as commentaries on American culture and politics as well as consumer entertainment.

3. This project has several educational benefits. It will allow me to hone my critical thinking skills by examining popular culture and American history. This project will improve my historical writing skills and techniques, preparing me for graduate school. It will give me solid practice in reading and examining history with a critical eye while getting help from an experienced mentor.


Plans for USS Mentoring

Pirates, Film, and the American Need for Escapism During Times of
Political or Military Unrest and Discontent


In Spring Semester 2007, we will develop a more formal prospectus as well as a schedule for my work on the project during Summer 2007. The work plan will include a timeline for meeting specific goals throughout the 10 week period. The goals will include project updates, completion of tasks necessary to support the final essay. During the summer, we will meet on a regular basis and stay in touch via email. We will discuss how to get through difficulties as they arise and share feedback on the progress of the project. In the last couple of weeks, we will meet to evaluate the project, to critique drafts of the essay and the hall display, and complete the final versions.



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Water and the Art it Influences [In the Dutch Golden Age]


Artists in the Dutch Golden Age were directly influenced by the waters around them, by regulating the commerce of their artwork, by giving them maritime landscapes to paint, and sea stories to paint and portray to the masses. Water surrounded the Netherlands, water affected the lives of the people both by providing water for farming and providing water for floods, water held the greatest of the sea stories within its depths; water ruled the culture of Holland. Texts, stories, maps, art, goods, trade: all of this dealt with water and the sea. There was no escaping it. In this article, I use several sources, including Simon Schama’s The Embarrassment of Riches, Jonathan Israel’s “The Breakthrough to World Primacy, 1590-1609”, Maarten Prak’s “Guilds and the development of the art market during the Dutch Golden Age”, and Jonathan Israel’s “Adjusting to Hard Times: Dutch art during its period of crisis and restructuring (c. 1621 – c. 1645)” to help support my point.

Several things go on during the Dutch Golden Age that affects the trade and commerce of the Netherlands. Whether it be war, trade restrictions, weather, or the locations of the buyers, it greatly affects how the artwork is sold and whether or not they can survive as artists and how well known they are. The economy will determine what paints can be used, how much colors run, and how available different materials are to the painter. If the economy is bad, paints will be much more expensive because they are not needed for survival. Painters will shift from painting very intricate maritime pictures with ships and the like, to a sea with the horizon, using less paint and fewer colors. As Israel points out in Adjusting to Hard Times, marine paintings became less detailed and became much simpler with fewer colors during the early seventeenth century, cutting down on size and costs of the paintings. J.M. Montaias is quoted as arguing that this shift towards monochromatic, simple seascapes is due to the speeding up of production and the lowering of the product cost for the general public (Israel, Adjusting, 125).

People often wanted seascapes and marine paintings, but few people could afford the high costs of a very intricate, time consuming painting that many artisans made. This demand for marine paintings made artists find cheaper and quicker ways to produce these pieces of art, giving them a public market that would buy their paintings. “The overall picture, then, is one of almost perfect market conditions, with demand and supply reinforcing each other to generate marvelous results” (Prak, 115). Artisans would make pictures quicker and cheaper, and with the large supply of cheap paintings, consumers were likely to keep buying these paintings to put around their homes. They wanted pictures of the sea they lived by, and the artists gave them what they wanted.

Jonathan Israel brings up the point that this important shift in the way maritime paintings are done should also be considered along side the immediate historical context – that of the Baltic trade recession and the Dutch-Spanish conflict, and the results these had on the resources that artists could use in their paintings (Israel, Adjusting, 125). These issues with trade and commerce are major factors in how things are done in the art world, for if there is no way to get goods to the people that will buy them, such as through the Baltic trade, the artwork will not be sold.

The Dutch-Spanish conflict itself had an impact on the art world, as all wars and conflicts do. A conflict or war will all transform society in some regard, hitting the arts hard due to wartime efforts and the need to put most resources towards the conflict and away from less practical uses, such as paints. Maarten Prak, in Guilds and the development of the art market during the Dutch Golden Age, rather agrees with Israel. He points out that “exports of Dutch paintings were probably limited during the larger part of the seventeenth century, [and] the expansion of the sector … was such that it cannot be properly termed a purely local trade” (Prak, 113).

It is increasingly obvious that economy and trade are important factors to what the artisans did. One did not paint solely for the people of the town in which he lived; instead, he was involved in trade and selling his goods great distances from where he lived, oftentimes selling his artwork in a foreign country if he was good.

Another good example of how important trade was is expressed in Jonathan Israel’s article of The Breakthrough in World Primacy, as he discusses how the lifting and placing of embargos on the Dutch shifted the economy. When the embargo was lifted, trade flourished and the economy was strong. When the embargo was on the nation, things were slow and difficult for merchant traders and therefore the economy of the Netherlands.

As the economy fluxed between good and bad, the images portrayed in the artwork changed little. Artisans used stories and the sea as subjects of their artwork. It was not always paintings, but also engravings and drawings. Simon Schama is able to show this happening often, as throughout his book he shows and describes pictures which reflect histories and sea battles that had taken place, and the artists renditions of these calamities. Orlers, a Leiden historian, made engravings of the siege of Leiden (Schama, 27) and the leaving of the Duke of Alva’s Spanish troops from Leiden as the floods chased them away. It was a series of engravings that helped illustrate the siege itself and make it open to the public, as engravings were easy to reproduce for people, unlike paintings.

The Dutch love their sea epics and shipwreck tales, which was a specialty at the time to the Netherlands, and they wasted no time in trying to illustrate these stories so that the people who could not read the stories could see the pictures that tell the stories without words. “…because of their skill at engraving, and the rapid expansion of a cheap octavo line in popular literature, publishers … were able to produce a whole series of dramatically illustrated briny yarns” (Schama, 28). This just enhanced the ability of these sea stories and tales of glory at sea to penetrate the Dutch culture even more, because now even the illiterate could ‘read’ the stories of shipwrecks and adventure through the pictures portrayed on the engravings. Children could grow up looking at images of these sea stories, increasing the number of people who could enjoy both the engravings and the stories they held.

Another use of the marine paintings includes the showing of proverbs and maxims that help convey messages to the viewers. Seascapes could show the proverb “‘casting a barrel before a whale’ that alluded to the deflection of misfortune by jettisoning worldly goods” (Schama 31) among other such visual references as to how one should live. Engravings and paintings often held scriptural and proverbial overtones during this era of Dutch artistry. It was something that the Dutch population would buy and understand, as well as put into their homes because of the meanings the paintings carry. It shows the owner to be one of good faith and morals to the viewers who come into the home and can see the paintings and engravings put on the walls.

In conclusion, water is a part of and rules both the Dutch culture and its art. It affects the economy, the commerce, the trade, the paints available, and the prices of the paints needed. It offers the genre of marine paintings and seascapes and it gives epic tales of shipwrecks and storms that can be illustrated by engravings and paintings alike. The Dutch Golden Age is unique in that it goes through phases of different art styles because of the economy and what is going on at the time. When they have a poor economy after years of good economy, the artisans learned different ways to use their resources to portray the same sort of art. Although they continued to paint seascapes and shipwreck tales, they used fewer colors, sometimes to the extreme of using various shades of one color, and less detail, using less paint. The Dutch adapt along with their environment, and their artwork reflects both the water and their ability to hold their own in the world, making do with what they have available to them.


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If you've read this far.... jeez, I pity you!

A note on the subject of pain

As all of you should know, pain and I are oddly attracted to each other. Apparently I'm a sucker for it. Here are the latest escapades to prove this theory.


Example #1

It's Thanksgiving. You are mashing potatoes that have been cooking for the last 45 minutes in boiling water on a hot stove. All water has been drained from potatoes and you have added the correct ingredients to make a very good mashed potato mix. You have your aunt hold the pot for you after your grandmother gave you a teaspoon to get the entire thing of potatoes out (which, when emptied, fills two large bowls). Using said teaspoon, you work around your right-handedness and your aunt's left-handedness. You spill some on hot stove. What do you do?

Correct answer: Put spoon in other hand while you use your fingers to try to pick up still incredibly hot potatoes that have been boiling for 45 minutes and are resting on a hot stove. You then try to eat said very hot potatoes while your aunt and mother die laughing at you. After you have burned both your entire mouth, tounge, and right hand, you realize, hasn't this happened before? and figure out that wasn't such a great idea. Note to self: Don't do that again. At least until next Thanksgiving.



Example #2

It's the Sunday that ends the break. You have class the next day. You're trying to write an essay. You hurt really bad from having fallen on stupid acorn a couple weeks ago, and are still in much pain. You understand that your knees are likely to give out at any time on you, due to figure skating for ten years, tennis for two, and lacrosse for much longer than is healthy. Someone comes to your door saying "Have you ever played broomball? No? You have one minute, we're going." What do you do?

Correct answer: You agree eagerly, as you have never gotten the chance to play broomball. You can't graduate this school without having played one game of it, right? You then put on a pair of sweat pants and a tank top, and a tshirt, and a sweatshirt, and run to the ice rink which is across the entire campus, because you are running late. This hurts, but you don't care. You're giddy with amusement. You get there and you still don't know the rules, and as people are handing you the stick to play with and putting your helmet on for you, they push you onto the rink. You ask what to do, they just say keep the ball from going in the net. Alright. What does that involve? You guessed it. Slipping on the ice for a half hour, with no knee pads (because my captors didn't find a need to tell me about that little thing). A half hour later, your knees are twice the size they should be and you can barely move, let alone walk. You idly threaten said captors (which you know pretty well and they know you're joking) and go get some pink lemonade from the market on the way home. Still idly threatening because you're in much pain. You wake up in the morning, your knees are still double their normal size, you have a goose-egg on one, and you have bruises from the top of your knee to four inches below. And you don't bruise. Note to self: Next time, take knee pads. And a doctor.



Your honor, does that satisfy your requirements for evidence?




;) Cheers.

Ah... how time slips through our fingers like water...

I'm sorry for the long delay. I've wanted to post, but time has not allowed it of me.

Lots and lots of things have been goign on. This coming week I have three papers and an exam. Oh, and a fellowship proposal for next summer - which I really really want to do. Basic line we're going off right now - How come Americans are fascinated with pirate movies in certain years but not others? Is it the silent rebellion against the government and politics that makes these rebellious heart-snatchers take our breaths away and fascinate us? That's the basic idea. Perhaps if people want, once I get it finished, I can put it up here for you to view. But you've got to comment to let me know. If not I'm not going to bore the hell out of you by putting it up here.

So right now I'm trying to get that paper done, for my research proposal. I have two papers due Thursday, and an exam Wednesday.

Steph is moving to Norway or somewhere like that. One of those countries up there where I can't visit. It makes me sad and angry. Not trying to be angry, but I kinda am. She's leaving on the 7th. Of December. Guess I won't get a suprise visit from her over break, like my parents wanted to do for me for my birthday.

Going to a wedding in early January. I'm really excited about it. I've known Sean for years - he gives me a reffing job every summer. And helped me with goal tending and is just in general a good friend, even when he coached opposing teams. And Anne is a sweetheart. So I'm excited about that.

Been to a LOT of doctors lately. I've been feeling worse and worse, and it's really messing with my studies. Went to an opthomologist (sp?) and then he sent me to my general doctor, because he thinks I have diabetes. So how did I spend my first day of break? You got it - in the doctor's office. An hour of being examined, then she sent me to the hospital to get a glucose tolerance test, blood sugar tests, some arthritis tests, and only god knows what else. Seven tubes of blood later, after fasting for 14 hours and drinking a sweet drink for the sugar test... I was done around 1. After starting at 8. And I still don't know the results. I know they're really worried about me having either diabetes and/or some other test that I don't want to talk about. Either one means a serious change to my college diet. One means taking away most of my pastas/bread/carbs of any sort. The other means they all go. Completely. Neither of which makes this less depressing.

So if all bloodwork comes back okay (which would be very good), then I get to go BACK to the opthomologist for more eye tests and stuff. Because I can't read my computer or the teacher's slides anymore. That's a really bad thing.

Oh, I did get an early christmas present yesterday. Hallmark's ornament of Pirates of the Caribbean. So sweet. Plays Yo-Ho. :D

Alright, well, I can't stand looking at this anymore. I feel like I'm about to pass out. So cheers and let me know if you want to read my proposal later, or if you want me to talk about anything... or yeah. I'm done. Ta.

Aww crap...

"Ben, I'm going to sue the squirrels of Miami."
".... ... ... WHAT did you do now!?"


Geez, even my RAs know me too well. But that's my goal still - I just don't think the courts are going to accept my claim of life endangerment and death by squirrels. Though every college student knows they're tricky little devils. Gotta love them though.

So you're probably wondering why I'm on a rant about evil, conniving little squirrels. Well, this happened Wednesday... basically I was running out the door to class, and managed to find the one acorn on the step, and in doing so, fell after twisting my ankle in two. Man it hurt. I think they set a trap for me. Honest. It was a yucky, rainy day, and everything was wet, and blaaah. In this wonderful twisting of my ankle, I also managed to bust my right knee and sprain my wrist. Go me.

Once down, I had someone help me up cus it hurt sooo much trying to twist my ankle and leg to get in a position to stand up. She was sweet and offered to get an RA, which I said wasn't necessary. No matter how good I am, I know I won't seriously hurt myself, soo no matter how much I hurt, it wasn't serious. Then I was standing against a pillar and Kuhl comes up to me and does his little Marine yell in my face, and I just ignore him. So assuming I didn't hear him, (I had in an ipod and had my eyes closed) he shakes my shoulder and asks if I'm okay. He's a sweet boy - funny and nice. Assuring him I was, I went along my gimpy way to Psych class. (Ironic...)

Called mom and laughed the whole way there - easier on the body than crying. Then the nice janitor guy that I talk to every day I go in told me to sit down and stop arguing while he went and got me an ice pack. :) Make a long story shorter, by the next day I could feel the fall throughout my entire body, since I try not to fall and throw EVERYTHING out of alignment. So now my hips down are in a LOT of pain. Therefore, we have four new ace bandages which are on each ankle and each knee. Go me! -_-

Last night I managed to hurt myself all over again, so I'm glad I got those bandages Friday... cuz I'm not sure I could convince myself to do all that walking at this point. (I currently look like a zombie. I have so many bandages on...)


Different note: Didn't get to ref yesterday. Probably a very good thing, but still very depressing. Also managed to hurt myself yesterday WITHOUT the help of running for five hours on uneven muddy fields.

And I really miss my Steph.

Another Long Week

First things first... I miss my Steph. A lot. Painfully so. I helped her with KOC, and she saved me from a horrible death by history paper, and then still makes me laugh. Sometimes I think she might even miss me, too... :) (hard to imagine, I know...)

Had a paper and a group project due today, have group project due tomorrow, have presentation and paper due Thursday. Blaaah. Also have allergies, but that wasn't due. Just happened. I swear.

Managed to win two shirts off of Lt. Cassidy last week - I'm wearing one right now. Made most of the unit laugh - and wonder how I didn't get this before. Basically they're Navy ROTC shirts for our unit. Now if I can just win a USMC one as well... Yesterday I also brought my swords in, and I think people were wondering what I was planning when I walk around with these swords in hand asking for Lt. Gonser. They're prolly going 'wtf does she want with him...' Oh you know, I just really didn't like that last grade I got, and wanted to let him know... lol jk. So now they're safely locked up in his office for later in the week.

Saturday I get to ref HS Boys lacrosse for the first time... should be... interesting, to say the least. 5 hours of reffing really... big... boys... and angry coaches.... Note: Coaches don't like a girl reffing their boys. They think I'm unfair or something... no guys, only unfair when you act like jerks to me. But should be very.... educational to say the least. Pray I survive.

Leaving off on this post by copying Steph's post for today, because honestly, it sounds exactly like what I would have said in her place and it reeeally made me laugh. Perhaps it's just my sleep deprived, stressed out mind, but oh well. Cheerio.


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PB & J... Death Ensues
Published Tuesday, October 31, 2006 by Steph.

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Day 2 of work over and done with. In case you were wondering, it was damn boring. The highlight of the day was getting into groups and filling out a "Job Safety Analysis". The instructors picked a task and we had to break the task down into steps, describe the potential hazards of each step, and then give ways on how the hazards can be avoided. The task was: Making a Peanut Butter and Jelly sandwich.

1. Gather materials
HAZARDS:
A) Falling off the stool while trying to get the bread off the top shelf--death ensues
B) Trying to reach the jelly in the back of the refridgerator and knocking something heavy on your foot--long term hospitalization, possible amputation
C) Knocking the peanut butter onto your head from the shelf--concussion, coma, death ensues
D) Getting cut on the knife as you get it out of the drawer--death ensues
AVOIDING HAZARDS:
A) Put the bread lower
B) Keep the jelly on the door of the fridge so you don't have to reach around anything
C) Put the peanut butter lower
D) Wear heavy leather gloves to retrieve the knife

2. Open the jars.
HAZARDS:
A) Giving yourself carple tunnel--long term hospitalization, surgery, therapy, loss of mobility in the hand
AVOIDING HAZARDS:
A) Utilize tools, such as a jar opener to open the jars

3. Spread the peanut butter and jelly on the bread
HAZARDS:
A) Mishandle the knife and cut your wrist--death ensues
AVOIDING HAZARDS:
A) Use a plastic knife

4. Construct the sandwich by placing the two pieces of bread together.
HAZARDS:
A) Could possibly drop the jellied piece of bread on the floor, slip on it, and break the neck--parilyzationzation or death ensues
AVOIDING HAZARDS:
A) Do not be careless. Concentrate and place the two slices of bread together using the proper technique.

Sooner or later I'll get back into the swing of this...

I keep forgetting to post. Though I really like this look compared to the green blue one. That one depressed me. If you can't see this blog well, make sure you view it in IE, apparently. Firefox doesn't seem to like pretty things. Ah well.

So yesterday's random bird's comment on what he thought of me kinda sums up this week and last. Bah. Kinda like the squirrels throwing random acorns at passerbys. Been looking at graduate school stuff. Really really depressing. My GPA isn't anywhere close enough to where I need to be. That... is really freaking me out. Everything is resting on going to grad school, but I need to actually get into it first. That would be a good thing, and the outlook isn't good at the moment. Also trying to get scheduling stuff worked out before I sign up for classes tomorrow. Also a very bleak outlook. Is my luck running out on me?

I'm considering doing a 12 credit hour course this summer, an internship of sorts for the university, perhaps about pirates. I could stay at home and read all summer, and write a paper for my report, or do a website or something. I'd get a stipend, as well as my books paid for, then just talk to Prof. Cayton over email and such, as he'll be out of the country for all of June. I have to apply, doesn't mean I'd get the scholarship though. But it'd look so damn good for grad school.....

Other news: Beth is engaged. Nick asked her to marry him on the 14th, for those of you who know who she is from school. I'm petsitting this coming weekend. The weekend after I'm reffing men's lacrosse (high school boys... eeeeep! I've not reffed the bigger boys before... talk about feeling short!), and the weekend after that, going to Dayton Art Museum to see Rembrant paintings........ joy. Oh joy.

That's all for now. I have about a total of 15 pages due for Thursday, then more to do for the following week.... gah. Ta.

Eep!

I know it's been a long time since I posted, sorry y'all. Not that anyone would really notice. Had a whole lot of exams. And still very busy. This is the best update you're getting right now.


Enjoy the new layout.